Creating the best tactic for a team

[Ecstasy]

Basically I am **** at making tactics, but I refuse using some superman tactics from these forums to win everything. Failing at tactics will mostly bring me bad results and then would let me with deleting the save. So I'd like to know what's the secret in creating a tactic? What type of tactic would fill on a type of players (slow and tall, or fast and short, I mean, slow tempo or high tempo, short passes or direct passes).
Then, at team instructions, probably the most important part of the tactic, what combinations are the best so far? I mean, probably short passes won't work out well with a kind of tempo (slower or quicker), or with let's say a type of width. When playing a passing game, dominating game, what kind of settings would be adviced to be applied? Same question for direct game.
For a team with bad players, what kind of tactic should you create? On what to rely to create a tactic good enough to make the team at least average from bottom?
I hope I'll get an answer and some help.
Cheers.

 

[TheBetterHalf]

I hope I'll get an answer and some help.
Cheers.

My suggestion would be to use the Tactic Creator and stick with the default settings. Here, a shportwer passing game is linked to a slower tempo and more narrow approach and if you want to play more direct, it will be in a higher tempo and witgh more width.

When I make a tactic for my team, I use the folllowing steps

1- think about àn approach: attacking, cautious, possession, Quick counter Etc. An appraoch that is realistic for YOUR club to play. Playing Overload with Wigan might not be a good idea, just like playing defenisve with United with see you struggle

2- think Of à formation

3 - think about the above, are these 2 à good match?

4- if so, what players would be needed to pull this off, do you have these players ?

5 - give these players the roles that suits them, the roles they need to be playing for the tactic to be balanced. Also consider their ppms so that they are not contradictive.

6- consider à plan B for playing teams playing really defensive or attacking against you. Should your initiall approach really work these teams in theory ?

7- make à plan B for how you handle injuries in certain playertypes. What happends if your Quick Poacher moving into channels are out and you need to use your strong and slow FC instead. Is ut possible to play the same way ?
'

Naturally, Its possible to make a tactic using tweaked sliders, setting them to their extremes, like playing realle, eally short butr using the while width and in a normal tempo but the outcome here will be more random and without andy logic as the match enine has not been develooped and betatested this way. These tactic, exploiting the ME are those that works the best but if wanting to understand the game, I would stick with the TC using the correct playerstypes and look for a balanced approach.

 

[Ecstasy]

1- think about àn approach: attacking, cautious, possession, Quick counter Etc.

5 - give these players the roles that suits them, the roles they need to be playing for the tactic to be balanced. Also consider their ppms so that they are not contradictive.

1. The approach should be the way I want the team to play, or it's also based on the quality of the players we have? Because I don't think you will play Attacking with MK Dons against Man Utd.

5. Those roles should be the same that are in the reports of the players? Or based on stats?

 

[TheBetterHalf]

1. The approach should be the way I want the team to play, or it's also based on the quality of the players we have? Because I don't think you will play Attacking with MK Dons against Man Utd.

5. Those roles should be the same that are in the reports of the players? Or based on stats?

Pick a team in the prem as an example and we will go through that team

 

[Jimmy_x_]

Pick a team in the prem as an example and we will go through that team

Mind giving me a bit of help with this aswell TBH!

 

[TheBetterHalf]

Mind giving me a bit of help with this aswell TBH!

No problem, just post in my tactic center thread :d, thats one of the things it for

 

[Ecstasy]

Pick a team in the prem as an example and we will go through that team

Let's say... Everton.

 

[Ecstasy]

No problem, just post in my tactic center thread :d, thats one of the things it for

And one more thing. What if I have a fast, but poor winger in crossing and dribbling and another winger that's good at crossing and dribbling but he's slow? What kind of tactic should I make?

 

[TheBetterHalf]

And one more thing. What if I have a fast, but poor winger in crossing and dribbling and another winger that's good at crossing and dribbling but he's slow? What kind of tactic should I make?

Would depend on the style you play. Take à player like beckham, he was used like à wide midfielder with crossing from deep, not trying to beat his opponent. The Quick player with poor crossing and dribbling would perhaps be used as Inside FC but with restricted run with ball.In the end, having players that have poor or good stat in those important for the position Will be the difference between failure and succes

 

[Ecstasy]

Would depend on the style you play. Take à player like beckham, he was used like à wide midfielder with crossing from deep, not trying to beat his opponent. The Quick player with poor crossing and dribbling would perhaps be used as Inside FC but with restricted run with ball.In the end, having players that have poor or good stat in those important for the position Will be the difference between failure and succes

And let's say I have N'Zogbia and Scott Sinclair as wingers and I have no other money to spend for players. I want to exploit their speed, since their dribbling and crossing stats is not that great. Any idea how I should do that? And what instructions to have in my tactic for slow, but good crosser players?

 

[TheBetterHalf]

And let's say I have N'Zogbia and Scott Sinclair as wingers and I have no other money to spend for players. I want to exploit their speed, since their dribbling and crossing stats is not that great. Any idea how I should do that? And what instructions to have in my tactic for slow, but good crosser players?

Here, its not the players, but the tactic. Think Beckham and not Giggs. Dont put direct balls into channels for them to run on instead, focus the play down the flanks. ( so that the fullbacks and dcs and the deeper MC play the ball to their feet )

On Topic though:

Everton, what would you say are their strengths andf weaknesses. How do you think the opponent will play against you, in generall ?

I always start with this information and build from it

 

[Ecstasy]

Everton, what would you say are their strengths andf weaknesses. How do you think the opponent will play against you, in generall ?

Not sure how the opponent will play against me to be honest. Probably Everton don't have good enough wingers.

 

[TheBetterHalf]

Not sure how the opponent will play against me to be honest. Probably Everton don't have good enough wingers.

Make a more generall assumtion and look at the squad and the clubs status. As yhou are Everton, teams like Man U will attack you at their home ground but at G.Park, they will most likely play counter with more men behind the ball. A Team like Norwich will perhaps play Counter against you at their home ground but away at G.Park, they will try to flood the midfield and play more cautious. In short, you are a middleteam trying to get into Europe.

- Are the squad a determined one ?. Work rate ? Stamina ? - They have concentration. Have a look at this as an example ( from my Palace project in Fm11)

Meeting the Staff


When meeting the staff, it´s important to look at the strengths and the weaknesses of the team. With a team like Crystal Palace, having no transfers budget, its perhaps not possible to sign players to strengthen the squad on every single point but none the least, its important to know what to expect from the team



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As you see, our staff consider us to have the following……

Strength

High Flair –Us having players that can do the unexpected. Of course, pulling it of is a different story

High Speed – Us having players that can get to the ball first when played into open space or beat an opponent in a one to one situation. Again, the ability to actually benefit from this depends on the players off the ball movement and dribbling skills

Good Height – This does not tell us anything unless looking at the skills of the players in terms of Anticipation, Agility, Strength, Jumping and Heading.



Weaknesses

Poor concentration – This is a really important stat as it effect everything you do, especially late in games

Poor Determination – Again, a crucial stat. If having low determination, it will hinder you from putting in an effort, getting first on the ball, making a comeback in a game

Poor First Touch – This stat is together with agility and anticipation a stat that I find to be very important for Central defenders and Strikers. If having defenders with poor skills here, one will conceded a lot of unnecessary goals inside the box after the ball bouncing of their legs

Poor Fitness – Here, it basically means that we really need to look out for those players that are injury prone, lacking in stamina and natural fitness. It might be that we need more squad depth than others clubs, basically forcing us to sign more players, even if not good


Summary of Expectations:

- Given this knowledge, we can make the following assumption.

We can expect the team to beat any team on any given Sunday as we have both pace and flair

We can also expect to give away a lot of soft goals due to the team lacking in concentration, Determination and First Touch

Why is important to know then ? Well, when constructing and tweaking a tactic as well as praise and giving hairdryers, we have to make sure that we take this into account when analyzing the match stats and outcome of the games just as well as its important to make a tactic that makes us able to play the players where they do most damage whilst still keeping a solid defensive shape making up for our shortcomings


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The Squad



Beneath, you find the squad in 11.3. Apart form these players, we have 2 players in the reserves, Scannel and Hills and whilst they would make an impact on the team, they are injured for the major part of the season.



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My Conclusion resultet in this. Never mind its in Classic Mode, the reasoning is the same

The Tactical Approach

I intend to use the Classic Mode and not the TC and this down to two reasons.
Firstly, I enjoy it more at the moment and secondly, I am going to tweak most of the settings anyway.

As we are a relegation candidate and don’t have a good enough squad for playing to expressive, too wide or too attacking, having players pushing forward at every opportunity, the approach used is going to be much more careful. Apart form actually suiting the squad at hand, I must also take into account that whilst playing defensive, playing in a slower tempo to gain more possession and flood the midfield, we don’t want to sit to deep or play a too narrow formation as this will only see us invite too much pressure. This is something that this team simply wont be able to handle as the team lacks in Concentration and Determination.

The setup I have chosen is to play a Wide 4321, using 3 central midfielders.
By playing more narrow within this formation, it ensured us to be compact in all areas of the field while defending and also makes us able to use most of the pitch when attacking, holding possession in advanced positions. We will also use a tight zonal marking and combined with a high pressing system, the aim is to cut angels and get the ball back as soon as possible without getting dragged out of position too often. Of course, this will happen every once in a while when facing better teams of players superior to our own but in general, I hope that this approach will see us having a defensive stability.

To keep possession better when the opponent sits with men behind the ball, quit a few players will hold up the ball and make fewer t-balls than your average approach. Runs from deep will also be restricted in most matches

 

[mccollio09]

nice posts, just read all of it and very intrigued. My tactics can be very hit and miss, usually get there in the end but not always an instant success, nice to see the level of reflection involved and gives me some ideas.

 

[TheBetterHalf]

One more thing Ecstasy, one that many people missunderstand.

Do you know what focus play means ?. The difference between through the middle and down the flanks ?

 

[Ecstasy]

Do you know what focus play means ?. The difference between through the middle and down the flanks ?

Urmm, middle one means they play the ball through the central midfielders and they usually ignore the wingers and flanks does viceversa?

 

[TheBetterHalf]

Urmm, middle one means they play the ball through the central midfielders and they usually ignore the wingers and flanks does viceversa?

Correct. And this actually means that if you play a counter approach and want the ball to be played into channels onto the wingers, the you play through the middle and let the MCs keep a direct game whilst the attackers and wingers move into channels/free roles. If having slow wingers and a Lampard or Steve G ( in top form) and perhaps a target man, then you should focus the play down the flanks and let the wingers be wide mids and have them hit floating crosses from deep.

 

[Ecstasy]

Correct. And this actually means that if you play a counter approach and want the ball to be played into channels onto the wingers, the you play through the middle and let the MCs keep a direct game whilst the attackers and wingers move into channels/free roles. If having slow wingers and a Lampard or Steve G ( in top form) and perhaps a target man, then you should focus the play down the flanks and let the wingers be wide mids and have them hit floating crosses from deep.

Some advices from you then pal? It's first season, took over at Newcastle, they are bottom with five games to play, against Liverpool and Arsenal two of them away, we need to win at least four of five games to survive, my main purpose is to play a counter football against Liverpool and Arsenal, then with teams like Stoke, play eventually a short passing game.

 

[Ecstasy]

Also if I have two playmakers in my team, how should I play them? with what roles and etc

 

[TheBetterHalf]

Some advices from you then pal? It's first season, took over at Newcastle, they are bottom with five games to play, against Liverpool and Arsenal two of them away, we need to win at least four of five games to survive, my main purpose is to play a counter football against Liverpool and Arsenal, then with teams like Stoke, play eventually a short passing game.

Tricky, alsmot to say impossible. Here,it will depend heavily on your manager reputation. If you are a international footballer, then the players will probably get a boost in confidence and morale by the club appointing you. If not and the moral is low, then it might be too hard to turn things around.

I would probably try to either play a direct counter game with many men behind the ball, perhaps in a wide 42121 ( dmc, dmc, mc) using a high press...or... play a standard balanced approach within a narrow diamond using lots of retain shouts to keep possession, hoping fro some flairfull players scoring the goals.

But as said, its really hard to turn things around this late. It will come to the morale and confidence. If the player believe its possible and you get an early win, then you might make it